


Say it Back

by glaciya



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: And I mean alot of them, Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Im sure that's a trope but I can't think of what it would be called, It's basically two emotionally constipated boys getting stuck in a cabin together, Jealousy, M/M, Post-Break Up, Protectiveness, Tim Drake/OMC - Freeform, and forced to work out their issues, but it's very brief, lots of feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-18 03:01:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13091040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glaciya/pseuds/glaciya
Summary: “You’ve been reading cheesy romance novels this entire time?”“Give it back, Tim.” Jason looks positively grumpy, shifting his stance as if he’s preparing to strike.“No,” Tim laughs, carefree. He’s standing on the arm of the couch, as far away from Jason as he can possibly get without running to a different room. “‘His eyes were ablaze with passion as he stared at me from across room, the electricity between us so potent that I could feel a tingle in my-”“Tim, I swear I’m gonna-”“It’s potent, Jason.”





	Say it Back

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kair0s](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kair0s/gifts).



> This is my secret santa gift for Arkhamknightmare. I tried to get a little of everything you asked for, so I hope you like it! :)

“You were talking in your sleep again.”

Tim freezes in the process of buttoning the cuffs on his dress shirt, heart stuttering. “What was I saying?”

He can see Noah sprawled out on the hotel bed through the mirror Tim is standing in front of. They had met three months ago when Noah posed as a model for Tim’s photography class and they had hit it off.  He was sweet and soft spoken, with pale hair and dark eyes. He never asked for more than Tim was willing to give, and seemed equally displeased with the idea of a serious, committed relationship. Tim isn’t sure if Noah had the same reasons he did for it, but he’d never ask. That wasn’t the type of conversation their relationship included. 

“The same thing you always do,” Noah rolls to his side, leaning on one elbow and resting his head on his palm as he observes Tim. “Just his name, over and over again. I’d think it was a sex dream if you didn’t sound so sad.”

Tim returns his attention to his shirt to hide his reaction from Noah, buttoning it up instead of commenting. Noah stays silent but continues to watch him as finishes getting ready for work. It isn’t until Tim is sliding on his suit jacket that he speaks again. 

“I think you should speak to him, whoever this ‘Jason’ is. It’s obvious whatever you’ve been doing isn’t working out for you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” He feels guilty for his clipped tone, and makes sure to press a kiss to Noah’s temple before he rushes to leave. 

******

It’s not until he’s in the car, headed to his office at Wayne Enterprises, that he notices the date lit up in bright LED like it’s mocking him. To any other person, today’s date would seem like just another day on their calendar, but to Tim it means more than he wants it to. Ideally, he would have thought nothing of it, but he just can’t help noting that it means that it's already been six months.

Six months since Tim told Jason he loved him.

Six months since Jason didn’t say it back.

Six months since Jason left him.

Tim presses harder on the gas pedal, forcing himself to focus on the traffic he’s zooming by and not things that shouldn’t matter to him anymore.

******

He loses himself in the ever present stack of work that waits for him at the office. He doesn’t have any meetings today and he’s grateful for it. He knows he wouldn’t have had the energy to give the Drake-Wayne charm and wit required to maintain the respect of some of the greedy, narcissistic business men and women he has to work with.

He’s so in the zone that he doesn’t notice Bruce walking into his office until the door clicks shut behind him. He looks up, blinking a few times to get Bruce into focus after staring at the computer screen for so long.

“Bruce, what can I do for you?” He uses a neutral tone, knowing just from Bruce’s posture that he wasn’t here for a casual visit. 

Bruce comes forward to sit in the chair across from his desk, clasping his hands together in front of him. Tim tenses in preparation for whatever he’s about to hear. It’s unlike Bruce to hesitate before delivering any type of news. 

“There’s been a...problem in Alaska.”

“Business or personal?”

“Personal.” 

So bat family trouble then, Tim thinks, going through the list in his head of different cases each of them has been working on. He doesn’t remember-

“It’s Jason.” Bruce interrupts Tim’s thoughts, his words a verbal strike through Tim’s chest. “He was working undercover to take down a group of poachers that have been illegally hunting endangered species across the world. He was supposed to finish up over the weekend and meet Dick back in Bludhaven to help with a case, but Dick hasn’t heard from him since last night.”

“Why would Jason need to go undercover to expose a group of poachers?” Tim asks, choosing to focus on finding the facts instead of his worry. It isn’t like Jason wouldn’t be able to handle a group of hunters. 

“Apparently they’ve hired protection. He couldn’t hit them head on, so he was gathering evidence to send in anonymously before their hunt began. He was trying not to kill any of them,” Bruce notes, voice tilting slightly with warmth. “He still hasn’t broken his no killing spree. It’s been-”

“Two years.” Tim swallows. “I remember.” Jason had stopped killing right before the two of them had started getting close. 

He looks away whenever Bruce frowns at him, not wanting him to see whatever expression was on his face. 

“Tim, I wouldn’t have asked this of you if anyone else was available.” Bruce says, shifting in his chair uncomfortably. 

“I know.” Tim looks back at Bruce once he’s sure his face is back to the calm mask again. “I can handle it.”

“Good,” Bruce gives him a small smile. “Because Alfred is packing your things and getting the jet ready as we speak.”

***

In a plane, the flight would have taken at least thirteen hours. Bruce’s jet can make it in less than half that. Still, the several hour flight gives Tim plenty of time to think once he allows autopilot to take over. He falls into his comfort zone first, reviewing all the information he has received from both Dick and Barbara, who helped him hack into Jason’s case files, and makes a plan.

The poachers were scheduled to go out onto their first hunt early yesterday morning. Jason’s plan had been to alert police beforehand, but use preset traps he put on the hunting trail and his own fighting skills to take down first the guards, then the hunters, leaving them tied up all nice and pretty for the law enforcement to find.

But something went wrong. A quick check to the local jails showed no signs of any arrests with information on the poachers or their guards. Jason’s silence is the most worrying part of it all. Tim knows this likely means that his cover has been blown, and bad guys tend not to react well when they realized they were being messed with. Which could mean Jason was injured, being tortured for information, or...worse. 

But Jason’s tracker is still showing him at the poacher's cabin, just outside the national park. If he was dead then they wouldn’t want his corpse sitting in their cabin with them, Tim hopes.

His plan is simple, get in, incapacitate the guards first, then hunters, grab Jason, get them out of there and back to Jason’s safe house to perform any first aide he needs to. Tim only hopes it will go smoothly. 

He lands the jet as close to Jason’s safe house as possible, thankful Bruce equips his toys with literally everything so he can land safely in the snow. He wastes no time getting into the garage and hopping in the jeep that Tim suspects Jason has stolen. 

The cabin is a few miles east of Jason’s safe house, close to an area heavily populated by the animals they’d be illegally hunting. Tim knows from Jason’s data that there are four guards and three hunters. As long as he can be stealthy enough and take them down one by one, it shouldn’t be a problem.

Leaving the jeep hidden close but out of sight of the cabin, Tim braces himself for the cold, creeping through the woods surrounding the cabin until he has a good vantage point to scope the place out.  

His thermal binoculars spot the first two guards standing right outside the front door, one is on the roof, and the other is somewhere in the cabin, sitting next to a body slumped over in a chair that Tim can only assume is Jason. One hunter is in where Tim suspects might be the living room, another in the shower, and one laying down in bed. 

Tim puts down the binoculars, letting out a sigh and watching the cloud of air rise above him. Knowing Jason is alive causes some of the tension in his shoulders to loosen. He stands, takes his grapple out and aims for the roof of the cabin, deciding the guard standing up there is going out first.

It’s almost anticlimactic how easily Tim is able to take out the first three guys and make it into the cabin after stealing a key from one of the guards. He sprays knock out gas in the face of the hunter already sleeping, just to keep him unconscious..Next is the hunter that was in the bathroom, thankfully in the process of getting dressed when Tim bursts in. He sprays him in the face as well and covers his mouth until the sedative kicks in.

The hunter on the coach goes out with a quick strike to the neck, and Tim launches a decorative tusk carving at the final guard in the kitchen, just because he’s gotten bored. 

Once all the threats are gone, Tim finally turns his full attention to the limp person in the chair. It’s Jason who, besides the nasty bruise on the right side of his forehead, looks just the same as he did the last time Tim saw him half a year ago.

Seeing him again hurts about as much as he expects it to. 

***

Jason’s still unconscious when Tim finally gets him inside the safe house, heaving him onto the couch with a tired grunt. He takes a moment to catch his breath, reminding himself to add an extra strength training day if Jason was going to keep playing the damsel in distress, before grabbing the first aid kit from his bag.

His fingers move across the latches of Jason’s suit with a sense of nostalgic practice, having done this before many times after the patrols they used to go on together. It had become a routine to stop by one of their apartments to help patch each other up after an intense night. Tim used to think Jason would get reckless on purpose just so he could make fun of the way Tim did his stitches later. The memory sends an unpleasant ping through Tim’s chest and he forces himself to catalogue Jason’s injuries as a distraction..

Luckily Jason only has one cut deep enough to need stitches, the rest are mostly scrapes and bruises that’ll hurt like hell, but heal fairly quickly. He’s just finished wrapping Jason’s wrist that he suspects is strained when Jason jerks, hands headed for Tim before his eyes even open. 

Tim intercepts him, keeping his grip on Jason’s injured wrist as gentle as his can while avoiding a black eye from him. 

“Hey-woah! Calm down.” Jason’s eyes fly to Tim’s face at the sound of his voice, eyes still unfocused.

“Tim?”

“Yeah, it’s me.” Tim slowly eases back away from Jason, letting his wrists go as he moves in to sit cross-legged on the floor. Jason squints at him, confused, as if he hasn’t quite fully woken up yet. 

“What’re you doing here?”

The question feels loaded somehow, making Tim self-conscious for reasons he can’t quite explain. He almost stumbles over his words in his rush to answer, as if he needs to clear the air. 

“Bruce sent me. No one else was available.” He shrugs, trying to seem casual when he feels on edge under the weight of Jason’s gaze. 

“Oh, makes sense. Dickie must already be working the case we were going to tackle together.” Jason’s voice is neutral. He still hasn’t relaxed back against the coach yet, propping himself up on his elbow as he continues to stare. 

Tim is able to put up with that, and the awkward silence that falls when he’s unable to think of anything in response, for less than a minute before he’s clearing his throat. 

“I’m going to call Bruce.” He says, standing up to make a hasty retreat. Jason doesn’t reply, but there’s a prickle nagging the back of Tim’s neck as he turns away, an irritating sign that Jason hasn’t looked away.

***

His call is to inform Bruce of the good news, that Jason is still alive. He doesn’t expect to have news waiting for him, the bad kind. 

“What do you mean we have to stay here?”

“There’s a snow storm about to hit near you in just a few hours,” Bruce repeats patiently. “It’s too risky to fly in the jet in, so you’ll have to wait it out.”

“For how long?”

“A few days, maximum.”

“A few...” Tim takes a breath. “Bruce, I can’t miss that many days at WE. I’m in the middle of closing a business deal with-”

“I can handle the company a few days without you, Tim. Do not leave until the weather has cleared.”

“But-”

“That’s an order, Tim.”

The call ends and Tim is left staring at his phone in disbelief. He had thought the time they would have had to spend together on the short flight back would be awkward enough, but spending days together under one roof in this incredibly small cabin? Tim can already feel the stress headache forming. 

“Everything okay?” Tim looks over at the sound of Jason’s voice, finding him leaning against the bedroom doorway, arms crossed over his still shirtless chest. Tim catches himself checking out Jason’s form when he’s reached the long scar going horizontally just an inch above Jason’s belly button, and hastily drags his gaze back up to Jason’s face, his quirked brow reminding Tim that he had asked a question. 

“Bruce says there’s a storm headed our way and that we should stay grounded until then.” He watches Jason’s face carefully, curious for his reaction to the news, and is almost disappointed when there is none.

“Alright,” Is all he says in response, shrugging and turning back toward the living room. Tim stares after him incredulously, before stomping after him. 

“Alright?” He repeats, voice sounding loud in the otherwise quiet house. Jason drops onto the couch, the arm hosting his injured wrist draped against the back of the couch and props both feet up on the coffee table.  

“Yeah,” Jason shrugs again, playing with the drawstring on his sweatpants. “I’ve got enough food here to last at least another week, even with the two of us, and it’s not like anyone is gonna bother us out here in the middle of nowhere.” 

“So, this isn’t weird for you at all?” Tim frowns, because he’s not doing this whole pretending like nothing’s wrong thing just to make things easier. Because he isn’t a coward, and he isn’t going to let Jason be one either. 

“Well sure it’s weird, but I was hoping we’d both be adults about this, since the situation isn’t gonna change just because we’re uncomfortable.” He says, still not looking up at Tim.

Tim stares at him, jaw going slack with shock at his casual attitude. How could he be unaffected after  _ everything _ \- 

Tim clenches his eyes shut as a flush of embarrassment heats his cheeks. Of course Jason wouldn’t be as worked up about it. He had never become as attached as Tim did. He hadn’t felt anything during their entire relationship that would affect him. 

“Right,” He finally says, voice clipped as he opens his eyes. Jason’s eyes flash up to his at the sound of his voice. His gaze is as intense as it always is and Tim has to look away first, still feeling childish from his apparent overreaction. 

The silence is overbearing, mostly because Tim can still feel the itch of Jason’s attention on him, under his skin. He’s racking his brain, trying to think of an excuse so he can just get away from Jason, but also not seem like he’s running away when Jason speaks again.

“What happened to the poachers and their guards?”

“Knocked them out and called the local authorities.” Tim looks up sharply when Jason curses. “Why?” 

“They have connections to the police out here, one of the poachers cousin is sheriff or something.” Jason scrubs a hand over his face. “That’s how they caught me. I was sending the police anonymous information about their hunting route and the sheriff tipped them off.” 

Tim sighs tiredly, wishing not for the first time that all law enforcement workers acted with the same work ethic as Commissioner Gordon. He frowns when Jason stands up suddenly.

“What are you doing?” He asks, watching as Jason goes for the bookshelf, hitting a button hidden at the top to reveal his secret gun stash. 

“We have to go after them,” Jason says, holding up a gun and inspecting it before replacing it to look at another. 

“No we don’t.” Tim argues. “They know someone is after them now, you’re injured, and we don’t have the police on our side. We need to get back home and regroup, think of a new plan before going after them again.”

“I don’t have time for that.” And then Tim is moving with Jason, sliding in front of him to block  his path to his suit. When he receives a glare from the larger man, he glares right back, placing his palm on Jason’s chest to stop him from advancing further. 

“We always have time for a more practical plan,” He recites one of the first rules Bruce had taught him, knowing he had said the same to Jason years back, and feels Jason’s muscles clench under his hand. “Think about it, they’re going to be trapped in the same storm as we are for the next few days. And then we can take the jet to Gotham, get some help and be back here before the snow clears enough for them to continue their hunt. Don’t get impatient and put yourself in unnecessary danger.” He leaves off the again, knowing it’s likely Jason heard the unspoken word anyway.

He watches, unsurprised as Jason slowly deflates in front of him with a reluctant sigh. This is a familiar scene for them, Jason bowing up to do something dangerous and Tim being one of the few able to talk him down from it. 

A warmth spreads through his torso at the thought that he still is able to influence Jason, at least in this way. He stops the thoughts that threaten to follow, shaking his head at both himself and Jason’s recklessness. 

“I don’t suppose there’s a second bedroom hidden somewhere around here?” Tim asks, eyeballing the couch Jason was sitting on. It’s cushions are lumpy and worn down with use, not to mention small. His neck aches just from the thought of sleeping on it.

“No, but the bed in that room is a king so…” Jason trails off, scratching the back of his head in what Tim knows is a nervous tick of his. 

“Great,” Tim says blandly, briefly wondering if he was hexed in a past life. He doesn’t bother asking if Jason is going to take the couch. It would be rude, since it’s Jason’s place and he’s injured. Besides, it’s not like they’ve never shared a bed before. “Well we should probably head to bed.”

He pauses uncertainly afterword, wondering why he automatically assumed they’d have to go to bed together. He didn’t even know if Jason was tired or not. But, before he has too much time to overthink it, Jason is standing and moving to lead the way toward the bedroom, carefully avoiding brushing against Tim as he walks past him. 

When they get into the room, Tim automatically moves to the side of the bed furthest from the door before he realizes what he’s doing. Before and after his time with Jason, he had preferred to sleep on the side closest to the door. But, after he found out that Jason felt claustrophobic if he was too far away from an exit to a room, he would move over for Jason. He falters in his steps briefly, then just sighs in resignation and continues to the far side of the bed.

Thankfully, Jason makes no comment on Tim’s hesitation, moving to the free side of the bed after retrieving a spare blanket out of the closet. When Jason notices his questioning stare he flushes but lets out a little laugh. 

“You gonna try to tell me you’ve given up your cover-hogging ways since I saw you last?” 

Tim doesn’t dignify that with a response, but finds himself biting his lip to keep from smiling as he moves to turn off the lamp. 

***

Their first morning together passes in a sort of strained sense of peace. Tim wakes up before Jason, carefully moving out of the room so as not to wake him. He immediately makes a pot of coffee. There’s no creamer in sight but he’s too grateful that Jason even has coffee to care. 

Jason had always hated coffee, said the caffeine made him anxious and claimed that it was likely part of the reason for Tim’s height, or lack thereof. Tim refused to believe him. 

He drags one of the kitchen chairs to the bay window and curls up there with a blanket, slowly sipping from the mug as he watches the snow fall. The weather doesn’t seem so bad from behind the safe, warm walls of the cabin. But he can hear the window roaring outside and knows that, combined with the limited visibility caused by the snow, will make for a dangerous flight. 

He’s in that same position when Jason wakes up for the day, glaring blearily at the snow and holding his now empty cup. He doesn’t turn to look when he hears Jason enter the living room with a loud yawn, but when Jason comes to stand beside him, so close that his body heat lures Tim to move closer, Tim can’t help but to chance a look over at him. He moves his eyes only, as if by not turning his head Jason won’t be aware of Tim’s attention.

Jason has always been soft in the mornings, squinting at things through sleepy eyes, mumbling words, and yawning twice every five minutes until he’s been awake for at least an hour. This morning is no  different. Tim watches with barely concealed amusement as Jason yawns and scratches at his morning scruff as he stares out the window. He even has lines on his face from where he was laying against the pillow. 

“Ready for round two?”

Tim blinks. “...What?”   
“Your coffee?” Jason arches a brow at him. 

“Oh. Uh, sure.” Tim hands Jason his mug, watching stunned as Jason gets him a refill and hands it back to him. 

“Thanks.” Tim mumbles after too long of a silence, when Jason’s already grabbed a book from the bookshelf and has spread out on the couch. 

“No problem.” Jason says, flipping a page. 

After finishing his second cup of coffee, Tim pours a third and grabs his laptop as he makes his way back to his seat by the window to go over some case files, looking for any clues he might have missed. 

His stomach growling draws him out of the work trance he quickly fell into, and when he looks up through the window, he’s surprised to find the sun shining high in the sky. He can still feel Jason’s presence on the couch behind him, along with that annoying itch again. But he knows Jason isn’t even paying attention, even now he can hear the occasional scrape of paper on paper as Jason turns the page.

His stomach gurgles again. This time Tim listens to it, getting up and heading for the kitchen. He briefly considers asking Jason permission to dig through his cabinets before dismissing the idea. It would make things less awkward if he just acted casual about it.

He’s frowning at the ingredients in the fridge when he hears Jason pad in behind him. 

“Are you making food?” Jason stops a few steps away from him, leaning down to rest his elbows against the counter. 

“Yeah, I guess.”

“For two?” Jason asks, grinning at him. 

“I might make two of something…” Tim watches as Jason’s eyes widen hopefully. “And eat them both. I’m pretty hungry.” He laughs as Jason practically deflates in front of him. 

“But Timmy,” He whines. “I’m injured.”

“Barely, thanks to me,” Tim scoffs, then sighs when Jason continues to bat his eyes at him. “Fine. But you’re making us dinner.”

“Deal!” Jason says, then seems to hesitate before speaking again. “I think I have all the ingredients for those omelettes you used to make us on Sundays.”

Tim opens his mouth then closes it,  turning back to the fridge for an excuse to look away from Jason. There’s an odd sensation in his throat suddenly, like he swallowed a golf ball. 

“You don’t have to if-”

“No it’s fine.” Tim says, leaning down hastily to grab the ingredients. “I was just…” He shakes his head, deciding that it would be best if he left that sentence unfinished. 

Jason seems unsure of himself as Tim sets about making their food. He doesn’t move from his spot at the edge of the kitchen until Tim asks him to get them plates, sending him a reassuring smile even though he’s still trying to swallow down the lump in this throat.

They don’t speak again until after they’re sitting at the table with their plates in front of them, when Tim hears Jason make a low noise after taking his first bite. Tim smirks, trying and failing not to preen at Jason’s expression. 

“Live up to your expectations?” 

“Mhm, I missed this.” Jason says with feeling, and Tim can’t help it when his smirk turns into a grin.

“I’ll have to make it for you more often.” The words slip from his lips as if they’re forced out of him, but Jason smiles softly before he can regret it.

“I’d like that.”

***

They finish the day off watching old movies together. They sit close enough to each other that their knees occasionally brush. As the night goes on, the tension in Tim’s shoulders gradually dissipates. He watches Jason out of the corner of his eye, they way he laughs at cheesy jokes meant for a young audience, and listens to his near constant commentary. He still has an ache at the center of his chest, but it’s less noticeable than before and Tim is starting to think that maybe this trip is going to be less damaging than he had originally thought.

Night time, while they’re laying down in bed, turns out to be the hardest part of the day. They both move automatically to their respectable sides of the bed. Tim lays there comfortably until he notices the position Jason has fallen asleep in. 

To a stranger, the way Jason is curled up on his side facing the door, wouldn’t mean anything. But Tim knows it means Jason is having a rough night, likely plagued by old nightmares.

If things were like they were before, he would have scooted over and pressed every inch of his body against Jason’s. Because that was the only thing that would comfort Jason without waking him up. Instead, throughout most of that night, he stays awake struggling to stay on his side of the bed. 

That isn’t his place anymore.

****

“You trying to become a drummer?”

“What?” Tim looks over to find Jason giving him an amused look from his seat next to him on the couch. 

“You’ve been tapping a beat with your left foot for the past half hour.” 

“Oh,” Tim flushes, stopping his moving foot. “I’m just...bored I guess. And not used to being bored.” He shrugs. “It’s weird.”

“Yeah, I’m feeling pretty antsy myself.” He bites his lip, thinking, and Tim tries very hard not to stare. “Wanna spar?”

“I don’t think we have enough room for that.” Tim laughs, looking around the cramped room.

“Sure we can. We just have to move some things around.” Jason says, already moving to get the coffee table out off the way. 

And so they spar. Which is a odd notion in itself. Tim’s been struggling to avoid almost any type of physical contact with Jason this whole time, but now he has an excuse for it. He’s just not sure if he wants one or not. 

Jason is still injured, so Tim goes easy on him at the beginning of the fight. He quickly stops when Jason notices, sending him a harsh look before landing a painful palm strike to his sternum. Tim grunts, taking the hint and moving into a more offensive position. 

They spar until they’re both out of breath and are covered in a layer of sweat. It finally ends when Jason stumbles on a lump in the rug Tim purposefully made earlier. Tim smirks, he told Jason there wasn’t enough room in here after all, and follows him down as he falls. They land with Jason on his back and Tim crouched over him, hand pressed lightly against the base of Jason’s throat. 

“I win.” He says between breaths, grinning now as the rush of a victory washes through him. The grin drops when Jason doesn’t say anything, just stares up at Tim, panting. It takes a moment for Tim to recognize the look. It’s been so long since Tim’s last seen it, but then heat floods through his entire being, a conditioned response based on what usually happens after Jason looks at him like that. 

“I’m going to take a shower.” Tim’s standing up and making his retreat before the sentence fully leaves his mouth. Jason remains suspiciously silent on the ground even as Tim shuts the bathroom door behind him.

He scrubs his skin like washing hard enough will take away the excitement thrumming through him, using the shower steam to try to clear his mind of the memories that threaten to come back to him. It’s not until he’s washing below his navel that he notices the extent of effect Jason had on him.

“Traitor,” He mumbles at his blatant arousal, deciding then to finish the shower quickly, less he be tempted to do something he’ll regret later.

He doesn’t realize until after he’s finished drying off that, in his hurry to get away from Jason, he forgot to grab his clothes. He bites back a groan, wrapping the towel around his waist,  breathing deep to brace himself and, finally, opens the door to step out into the hallway.

To his relief, Jason isn’t in the living room anymore, although he’s already rearranged the living room back to its original state. As he hurries to the bedroom, he hears the sound of dishes clanging together in the kitchen and desperately hopes Jason is making them some food. All that sparring had made him hungry.

Once dressed, he heads into the kitchen, excited to find Jason stirring some type of soup in a large pot. Jason doesn’t look over at him, keeping his attention on the food even when Tim moves to stand next to him.

“Smells good,” Tim comments softly, unsure of himself because of the awkwardness earlier. He’s hoping Jason will let it slide like he’s trying to do, but when Jason remains silent, muscle ticking in his jaw, Tim feels a swirl of nausea in the pit of his stomach. “Listen, Jason-”

“Noah called while you were in the shower.”

“I-What?” Tim’s thrown off until Jason’s words finally hit him and he glares. “You were on my phone?”

“It kept ringing over and over, so I thought it might have been a work colleague or something.” Jason side-eyes him. “Sounded like he missed you alot.” 

Tim flushes. He knew because of the time zone difference that it was early morning back in New Jersey right now, and sometimes Noah liked to start his days off with a little...fun. 

“You should’ve just ignored it.” Tim snaps for lack of a better response. 

“You never used to mind when I checked it, so I-Why are you laughing?” Jason turns to face Tim fully now, looking confused. 

It makes sense because the sound definitely shouldn’t be coming out of Tim’s mouth right now, even if it’s completely devoid of any warmth. 

“Our relationship was a little different back then, I think.” Tim says with a bitter grin. He doesn’t feel any satisfaction when Jason rears back from him. “What we are now is nothing more than co-workers, so I’d appreciate it if you’d start acting like it.” 

Above everything else he’s feeling, he focuses on trying not to punch anything as he makes his way back to the couch. Jason, thankfully remains in the kitchen. The cabin is filled with an almost suffocating silence as Tim waits for something, anything from the usually hot headed other boy. But there’s nothing. 

Tim lets himself relax when the sound of a metal spoon scraping against the pot of soup continues after a few moments. He grabs his phone, sending a quick apology text to Noah for whatever Jason might have said to him. Noah replies almost right away, and Tim rolls his eyes when Noah finishes the conversation by telling him to have fun with his ‘boo’. 

He looks up from his phone briefly when Jason walks into the living room. But all Jason does is send Tim an unreadable look and continue into the bedroom, shutting the door behind him with a quiet click.

***

He must fall asleep at some point because the next thing he’s aware of is being shaken awake.

“What?” He mumbles, swatting blindly. His hand is caught, and he hears Jason chuckle. 

“Come to bed. That can’t be comfortable.”

“But I’m mad at you,” Tim voice is slightly less mumbled now, and he opens his eyes to find Jason crouched in front of him. 

“Well press pause on that until tomorrow. You need some sleep.”

Tim’s objections fall flat when he tries to shift and a spike of pain shoots up his neck. 

“Okay,” He sighs. “But you’re in for it tomorrow.” Jason must find this funny, because all he does is laugh quietly in response. 

Jason ushers him into the bedroom. Tim crawls into the bed, losing his energy halfway through and dropping down in the middle of the bed. He can’t bring himself to care when Jason slides in behind him, body brushing up against his as he gets comfortable.

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Tim says quietly. He feels Jason tense behind him but he remains silent. “I haven’t been with anyone else, not really.” 

He falls back to sleep before Jason replies, but not before he notices the slight movement of Jason shifting so he’s pressed more firmly against his back.

******

“You’ve been reading cheesy romance novels this entire time?”

“Give it back, Tim.” Jason looks positively grumpy, shifting his stance as if he’s preparing to strike. 

“No,” Tim laughs, carefree. He’s standing on the arm of the couch, as far away from Jason as he can possibly get without running to a different room. “‘His eyes were ablaze with passion as he stared at me from across room, the electricity between us so potent that I could feel a tingle in my-”

“Tim, I swear I’m gonna-”

“It’s  _ potent _ , Jason.” Tim’s ready for it when Jason finally lunges, leaping away and sprinting for the kitchen. He hears Jason’s heavy footsteps behind him and heads for the kitchen table, getting around it and facing the door before Jason barrels in.

When Jason moves like he’s going to go around the table, Tim slides in the opposite direction, keeping the table in between them. He grins teasingly when Jason lets out a frustrated huff, waggling the book in front of him. 

Jason’s face clears not even a second before he makes his move. Tim doesn’t even have time to jerk back before Jason reaches out, using his longer limbs as an unfair advantage to grab his wrist and pluck the book out of his hand. 

Tim only chuckles in response, seeing the protective way Jason clutches it. He opens his mouth to continue teasing him, but something on top of the fridge catches his eye.

“Is that some of that fancy scotch Bruce keeps locked in his office?” Jason follows his gaze and smirks. 

“Yeah, I stole it last time I was over at the manor.” He shrugs. “I was saving it for a special occasion.”

“Tonight could be a special occasion.”

“Oh yeah?” Jason snorts. “And what are we celebrating?” 

“Your love of romance novels?” Tim drawls. Jason doesn’t dignify that with a response, but he does turn to get the bottle off of the fridge. Tim grins, turning to look in the cabinets for two glasses.

And so, like a couple of normal college-aged guys, they spend their evening drinking and playing video games. Tim drinks until his cheeks are pleasantly hot and the tension in his shoulders loosens, then stops. He needs to keep his wits in tact if he’s going to stand a chance against Jason in fighting games. Jason has been playing them quite often with Roy, it seems. 

As good of a time it is, especially once Tim starts beating Jason half the time, he can’t help but to think about the fact that it’s their last day together. 

When he woke up this morning, significantly less angry than when he went to sleep, he decided he didn’t want to spend their final hours together fighting. He had no idea when he’d talk to Jason again after this, or where they even stood in their relationship. Although, looking back on their time together, Tim supposes he never really knew where he stood with Jason.

The memory of his unrequited confession still hurts like it’s fresh, but now the anger that usually follows doesn’t come. It makes it easier to think about it from Jason’s point of view. 

When they had moved on from friends to...something more, they never really spoke about it. Maybe Jason didn’t view the changes the same way Tim did. Maybe he thought they were still friends that would help each other relieve tension and loneliness that they couldn’t get anywhere else with a life of vigilantism and secrecy, and Tim was the one who screwed things up, naively thinking it had meant more. 

“I’m sorry,” He says suddenly. Whatever is in his tone makes Jason pause the game and turn to give Tim his full attention. 

“For what?” His tone is cautious. Tim hesitates, biting his lips before taking a steadying breath. They need to talk about this.

“For holding it against you for not...when you didn’t say it back.” He swallows over the L-word, isn’t able to say, but he hopes Jason is able to understand what he’s talking about. From the stricken look that crosses his face, he does. “I shouldn’t have just assumed that you felt the same way.”

“Tim, no.” Jason scrubs a hand over his face. “You had every reason to be upset with me. I acted like a coward running away, ignoring you and my feelings. You deserved better.”

“I don’t care about what I deserved. I just wanted-Wait a second,” Tim frowns. “Your feelings?”

The bay window next to them explodes, sending in a wave of freezing air and bullets from the shotgun blast that destroyed the glass. One of them nearly hits Tim’s leg before embedding itself in the couch cushion. 

They both move at the same time, heading for the bedroom where their suits are stashed. Tim doesn’t bother with anything other than his mask, staff, and utility belt. 

“I thought you said they wouldn’t travel until the weather clears!” Jason calls from the other side of the room where he’s shrugging on a bullet proof vest. Two pistols lay on the bed in front of him. He already has his mask on.

Tim hears the sound of running footsteps and moves to the corner, hidden behind the door. 

“I didn’t think they’d be crazy enough to try it. Heads up!” He spots one of the guards before they catch sight of him and lifts his bo staff, using a quick short-ranged strike right to the temple to knock him out. 

“One down.” Jason says, checking the amount of ammo he has in each gun before moving toward Tim. Tim starts to ask Jason how he wants to handle this when a voice calls out from somewhere down the hall.

“If you drop your weapons and surrender now-” The rest of the sentence gets drowned in several screams when Jason tosses a smoke grenade down the hall. 

Jason takes the lead,barreling ahead while they’re still disoriented, with Tim moving silently behind him. Even though they can’t see as well, they still have the advantage with knowing the layout of the cabin. Already, Tim can hear some of them stumbling over furniture. 

He uses his hearing to pick out the first one, coming up behind him and kicking the back of his knee, wrapping his arms around their neck and squeezing until they fall limp. He gently lowers the poacher’s body to the ground, noticing as he stands back up that the smoke has cleared significantly thanks to the open window. Somewhere close by he can hear the pained grunts of Jason’s victims.

There’s a twinge at the base of his neck, a warning, before arms wrap around his middle, caging his arms against his torso. He can tell it’s one of the guards, and a big one too, from the symbols on the sleeve of his suit. 

The guard squeezes and lifts, likely attempting to body slam Tim down on the ground, but Tim braces his feet on the wall as he rises, knowing when he kicks out that there’s a coffee table less than a foot behind them for the guard to trip over.

As predicted, the guard tumbles with Tim going down with him. He lands on his side, swinging an elbow back with a satisfying crack as it connects to the guard’s nose. 

He stands up, looking over in time to see Jason headbutt the last guy and step away to let him crumple to the ground. There are only the barest traces of smoke leftover from the grenade, so Tim can see the bodies sprawled on the ground from the fight.

“Hang on,” Jason says suddenly. “There’s only five here, plus the one you took out in the bedroom. Where’s the last one?”   
  


If he’s not in the cabin with them...Tim looks out the opened window, noticing a set of a footprints leading away from the cabin.

“He ran,” Tim says, leaping out into the snow. 

He ignores Jason calling after him as he follows the trail. They lead to a set of snowmobiles, new tracks showing that the lone poacher drove off in one of them. Luckily Tim finds one with the keys still in it, swinging a leg over the seat and taking off as fast as the engine will let him.

The poacher hasn’t made it too far, doesn’t look like he knows how to drive it very well. He must have hitched a ride from one of the guards to get here. Once he notices Tim gaining on him, he starts to panic, taking too many sharp turns and starting to lose control on the vehicle.

Tim maneuvers his snowmobile until he’s as close to the poacher as he can get, carefully moving into a crouch and leaping at the last possible moment. His body slams into the poacher’s right before their vehicles crash into each other.

The poacher screams as they go flying in the air. Tim barely manages to twist them in time so he takes the brunt of their fall as they land in the snow. They keep tumbling, and Tim loses his grip on the poacher at some point while they’re rolling.

He finally slides to a stop, a large pile of snow follows, surrounding him as he stands and coming up nearly to his knees. He shivers as the cold starts to sink in now that the adrenaline has worn off. He can see where the two snowmobiles had crashed into each other, the flames lighting most of the area around him. 

A shot fires, bullet landing in the snow in front of him as he jumps backward. He lands unsteadily, the snow underneath him making it hard to keep his balance. The poacher stands on an incline too close to Tim for comfort, especially for someone with a gun aimed at him.

Tim raises his hands in surrender, opening his mouth to say something hopefully placating, but stops short when the ground beneath him cracks, then shifts. Tim tries to take a step back, freezing when there’s another threatening sound coming from below him. 

“Tim!” Tim looks up to see Jason standing beside the poacher’s now unconscious body. “You need to-” 

Then something gives away and Tim goes down and under, fully encased in water before Jason can finish his sentence. The cold seeps in instantly, burning his skin straight to his core. The shock makes him unable to move for a few moments as he sinks deeper and deeper, before his brain gets back online and he’s swimming, desperately needing to get out.

He breaks the surface, teeth already chattering between his first gasped breaths. A hand latches onto his shirt and drags him up and out of the water. He knows Jason is saying something, watches as his lips move around the words, but all he can hear is a distant ringing. He hysterically wonders if his eardrums have frozen over.

Time blurs each time he blinks. He opens his eyes and Jason is half carrying, half dragging him through the snow. Opens them and he’s lying down on the floor of the jet, Jason kneeling down beside him cursing and rummaging through something out of Tim’s line of sight. Opens them again at the sharp pain of Jason’s slap. 

“Sorry,” He’s saying, grimacing as he starts tugging at Tim’s clothing. Tim would move to help him but he can’t seem to feel any of his limbs properly. “This was not how I imagined it when I pictured finally getting you out of your clothes again. How are you feeling?”

“I’m c-c-cool as a c-cu-” 

“Well as long as you can still make jokes I guess it’s fine.” Jason smirks. 

He finally gets Tim out of his wet clothes, and wraps him head to toe in an emergency thermal blanket. Then he leans against the wall, pulling Tim practically into his lap, rubbing his hand quickly up and down Tim’s back and arms to help warm him up.

“This f-feels familiar.” Tim comments once he starts getting feeling back in his toes. He’s tingly all over, like his whole body lost circulation and is trying to get the blood moving again.

“You make a habit of falling in frozen ponds?”

“No,” Tim gives a shaky laugh. “Nearly dying, you coming in last minute and taking care of me after.” He regrets speaking almost as soon as he’s finished because Jason’s face closes off as he picks up on the memory Tim is talking about. He never loosens his grip on Tim though. 

“You think there will be a confession this time?” He finally says, voice low and quiet. 

“Don’t think I could handle you not saying it back again.” Tim says honestly. Something about near-death situations always made him want to give everything away. 

“What if I said this time would be different?” Jason asks, not faltering when Tim gives him an unamused look. “What if I said I’d promise to say it back this time?”

Tim swallows, staring at Jason as he tries to process what he thinks is going on, tries to decide if he should heed or ignore the fearful warning in the back of his mind. 

“I think,” He licks his lips, watching Jason’s eyes flicker down to them for an instant before they lock with Tim’s again. “I think I might want to say it again.”

Tim’s surprised when Jason’s expression breaks into a relieved grin, as if he didn’t already know of Tim’s feelings. But then he’s leaning even more into Tim’s space, and Tim becomes too distracted by the wonderful sensation of lips and tongue moving against his.

Later, after they’ve made sure each of the poachers and their guards are tranquilized and securely hogtied in the back of the jet Tim, still giddy from earlier, decides he feels like teasing Jason, just a little bit.

“You know Noah was the one who suggested I try to patch things up with you,” Tim says, biting his lip when he sees Jason’s jaw clench. “I should text him and tell him we’re back together now.”

He’s surprised when Jason smirks suddenly, sending Tim a mischievous look before answering. 

“I already did when I spoke to him on your phone last night.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! :) Comments and kudos are always appreciated.


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